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We are united by our desire for
direct action against the climate crisis.
OUR STORY
In 2019, we came together to discuss the advancement of an Arctic sea ice restoration initiative spinning out of The Siku Project. We coined the initiative “Real Ice.”
Through the efforts of 27 inaugural volunteers, the initial technological concept behind Real Ice came to life and quickly caught global attention as a feature in the trailer for Hyundai x UNDP’s ‘For Tomorrow’ initiative, focused on sustainable solutions tackling environmental and societal issues.
In 2022, Real Ice formalised as a UK company and operationalise the science at scale to prove out practical solutions for the restoration of Arctic Sea Ice.
Today, with invaluable support from Arctic Research and Sea Ice thought leaders and an incredible team of engineers, operators, and climate scientists, testing of the AquaFreeze approach in Arctic conditions is set to begin.
DURING OUR TEAMS RECENT EXPEDITION IN CAMBRIDGE BAY, NUNAVUT, CÍAN SHERWIN AND ANDREW WOODS MANAGED TO TAKE A QUICK PICTURE WHILE GATHERING MEASUREMENTS ON THE SEA ICE. (APPROX. 69.089702, -104.961212)
HERE YOU CAN SEE ANDREA CECCOLINI WORKING WITH PAMELA NAKASHOOK, DAVID HANAK (EHTO GUIDES) AND 'NIC' (CHARS OPERATIONS MANAGER) TO LOAD THE HYDROGEN CYLINDERS ONTO THE QAMUTIK (SLED IN INUKTITUT) BEFORE HEADING ON TO THE SEA ICE.
Independent Advisors
Prof. Peter Wadhams
Peter Wadhams ScD, is Emeritus Professor of Ocean Physics, and Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work on sea ice. He is credited with alerting the world to the full extent of sea ice melt, being the first to measure the ice from beneath aboard British Navy submarines in the 1970’s.
Until the end of 2012, Professor Wadhams was on the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency. In 1990 he received the Italgas Prize for Environmental Sciences and had also been awarded the Polar Medal (UK) and the W. S. Bruce Prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is a Visiting Professor at the Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, and a member of the Finnish Academy.
CHAIR OF ADVISORY BOARD
Prof. Cecelia Bitz
Professor and chair in the Atmospheric Sciences Department and the director of the Program on Climate Change at the University of Washington. She is a co-lead for the Sea Ice Prediction Network enabling global coupled climate modeling. Cecelia has served on the National Research Council, Board on Atmospheric Sciences, since Sep 2016, has been a UW representative to UCAR, since Oct 2013 and was appointed to the National Research Council committee on “Developing a U.S. Research Agenda to Advance Subseasonal to Seasonal Forecasting”, from July 2014 to March 2016. Prof. Bitz is recognised through her awards for the AGU Jacob Bjerknes Lecture and American Geophysical Society Fellow in 2018.
Prof. Ed Blanchard-Wrigglesworth
Research associate professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences. A member of the Sea Ice Prediction Network and the science team at NASA Operation IceBridge’s (helps monitor sea ice in the polar regions). Prof Blanchard's work understanding trends in sea ice and their interactions with other parts of the climate system. We have recently assessed the impacts of winds and Southern Ocean SSTs on Antarctic sea ice trends, which have shown a slight positive trend since 1979. He is a member of the Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) to collect, analyze and disseminate seasonal forecasts of Arctic sea ice. He works on understanding the theoretical mechanisms of predictability in the polar regions, focusing on sea ice and remote influences. Prof. Blanchard was also part of NASA's Operation IceBridge's science team over 2017-2020, helping monitor sea ice in the polar regions and is currently working with the new ICESat-2 satellite to characterize the impacts of ocean waves on sea ice.
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Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald OBE FREng
Shaun is currently the Director at the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge, Director of Research at Cambridge Zero and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering who works at the interface of academic research, business, government policy and public engagement. He has worked extensively in the commercialisation of new intellectual property arising from university research, and supported the UK government in the re-writing of policy documents for building standards. Prior to joining the Centre for Climate Change Shaun was Director of the Royal Institution, overseeing the programme for engaging the public with science and engineering.
Professor Steve Desch
Steve Desch is a professor of astrophysics in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU. His research focuses on developing models of star and planet formation, using data from meteoritics and planetary science. He especially studies the origins of chondrules and meteorites. He also works in the fields of exoplanets and astrobiology and is Principal Investigator (PI) of the NASA-funded NExSS grant to study geochemical cycles on exoplanets to aid searches for signs of life on other planets. He has modeled small icy bodies to explore the likelihood of subsurface water on Pluto and its moon, Charon, the asteroid Ceres, and others. He has recently advocated the concept of Arctic Ice Management, to study how to increase sea ice in the Arctic in response to climate change. Asteroid 9926 Desch is named after him.
Professor Hilairy Hartnett
Hilairy Hartnett (she/her) has joint appointments in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the School of Molecular Sciences. She earned an A.B. degree in chemistry from Vassar College in 1990, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in oceanography from the University of Washington. After postdoctoral work at Rutgers University, working in river and estuarine systems, she joined ASU in 2003. Her current research interests are in the areas of 1) biogeochemistry, specifically how geochemical, microbial, and anthropogenic processes affect elemental cycles in modern and paleo-environments, 2) Astrobiology and organic geochemistry, particularly how organic reactions are influenced by minerals under hydrothermal conditions and their implications for habitability, and 3) urban ecology and anthropocence science.
Prof. Brendan P. Kelly
Brendan is the Chief Scientist for the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks where, for the past 10 years, he has directed the Study of Environmental Arctic Change, a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural study. He also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. A marine ecologist with a focus on sea ice environments, he has participated in and led collaborative research in the North Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Sea of Okhotsk, Baltic Sea, Lake Saimaa, and Antarctica. His studies of ice-associated mammals benefitted from close collaborations with Indigenous hunters, scientific colleagues, students, and very smart Labrador retrievers. He has led efforts to understand and respond to climate change including as Deputy Director of the Arctic Division, National Science Foundation; Executive Director of the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee; Chief Scientist, Monterey Bay Aquarium; and Assistant Director for Polar Science, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In the latter position, he led one of three lines of effort and Alaska outreach for the nation’s first National Strategy for the Arctic Region.
Alice Rogoff
Alice Rogoff is Publisher and Owner of ArcticToday.com. From 1985 to 1997, she was Chief Financial Officer of US News and World Report. She served at The Washington Post Co. as assistant to publisher Donald Graham, and she was the creator of the Post’s National Weekly Edition. Earlier in her career, she served in President Jimmy Carter’s administration as special assistant to Director of the US Office of Management and Budget.
Alice is also the founder of Arctic Imperative, a lecture series dedicated to raising awareness of circumpolar north issues. She is the former publisher and owner of Alaska Dispatch, and co-founder of a number of other organisations, including the Alaska Native Arts Foundation.
Dr Dwayne Menezes
Dr Dwayne Ryan Menezes is the Founder and Managing Director of Polar Research and Policy Initiative. Dr Menezes has long pursued a career at the intersection of academia, policy, social entrepreneurship and the arts. His many senior policy roles include serving as Consultant to the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. He is Vice-President of Arctic Today, the world’s foremost media outlet covering the circumpolar North. In addition to his other roles, Dr. Menezes currently serves on the All-Party-Parliamentary Group for Greenland at the UK parliament.
John Englander
John Englander is president of Rising Seas Institute, a nonprofit think tank and policy center working to advance adaptation to rising sea levels through better understanding of the science, engineering, economics, and risk. Previously, he was CEO of the Cousteau Society. An oceanographer and expert on climate change and sea level rise, Englander has briefed Congress, US Naval Academy, military leaders of all eight Arctic nations, corporate executives, and professional societies and lectured at London’s Royal Institution and the Hong Kong Observatory. The author of Moving to Higher Ground and High Tide on Main Street, his work has been featured in The New York Times and on the Discovery Channel. Englander is a fellow of The Explorers Club and the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science, and Technology.
Prof. Jim Clifford
Prof. Jim Clifford is CEO & Founder of Sonnet Advisory and Impact CIC, and Hon. Professor at Sheffield Hallam University. With over thirty-five years in managing and advising social enterprises, charities, public agencies and private sector organisations facing all sorts of opportunities and challenges, Jim can draw on so many real life situations, experiences, and solutions. An accountant and corporate financier by origin, with experience in insolvency and turnaround, expert evidence and investigation and valuations, from around 2004 Jim developed specialisms in impact measurement, social research and social investment. Jim now leads complex and strategic projects with clients in all sectors tackling re-imagining their business, planning for the future (including exits), merging and forming strategic partnerships, fundraising, addressing governance and structural issues, understanding their situation and the systems around them, and managing, measuring and valuing their impact.
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